"Actor: Robert Ruth"

• I Love Trouble | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £9.48   |  Saving you £8.50 (130.97%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The writer-producer-director team of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers (Father of the Bride) can't lift this sugary ode to Howard Hawks's His Girl Friday to a believable--let alone enjoyable--plateau. Neither, unfortunately, can its two great and perfectly cast leads, Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts. As competing newspaper reporters after the same story, there should be enough sparks and brilliantly barbed dialogue flying between them to resurrect the screwball comedy genre of classic Hollywood. But the material isn't there, the charisma isn't there, and the direction (by Shyer) certainly isn't there. At more than two hours, I Love Trouble begins to dismantle itself, and the cute factor becomes a pain. --Tom Keogh

• Inside I'm Dancing | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £7.39   |  Saving you £8.60 (116.37%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When a loud-mouthed soul moves in next door, Michael, a long-term resident of Dublin's Carrigmore Home for the Disabled, finds a new lease of life in this award-winning Irish movie.

• Killer's Kiss | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An exercise in film noir fairytale, 1955's Killer's Kiss was Stanley Kubrick's second feature film (he had the first buried forever) and shows just how powerful a filmmaker he was right out of the gate. Followers of Kubrick's career will note the appearance of themes and images that recurred (a final axe-fight in a warehouse full of disembodied mannequin parts would not be out of place in The Shining), but this is also notably unlike later Kubrick films in its use of authentic locations and its 65-minute running time. The plot is a tiny anecdote about a washed-up boxer (Jamie Smith), a dance hall dame (Irene Kane) and a slimy hood (Frank Silvera) during one crowded weekend of brutality and romance. There's a sense of a young director playing games: the boxing match (a definite influence on Raging Bull) is all low-angle close-ups and subjective shots with plenty of thump and dazzle, and the traditional Expressionist look of noir is exaggerated with many a tricky shot or doomy plot twist. The three unfamiliar leads are all excellent as small-timers struggling with big passions, and there is already a potent use of raucous source music and subtle sound design to augment the stark, haunted black and white imagery. On the DVD Killer's Kiss on disc features no extras other than a blaring trailer ("a picture as brazen as the naked lights of Broadway, as hard as the New York streets in which it was shot!"). The black and white picture is 4:3, and comes with soundtracks in English, German, Italian and Spanish; subtitles in English, German, Italian, French, Dutch and Spanish. --Kim Newman

• Walking with Cavemen | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £24.74   |  Saving you £-6.75 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Breaking the mould of previous "Walking with" offerings, the BBC's Walking with Cavemen sees Professor Robert Winston follow in the footsteps of ancient man in a series that traces the history of humanity from bipedal ape-men (Australopithecus Aphaeresis) to the awakening of the human mind's potential with Homo Erectus. Spread over four fascinating half-hour instalments, Wilson presents an accessible and populist, but still suitably anthropological study on how apes became human and the traits that we inherited from our earliest ancestors. Unlike Dinosaurs and Beasts, Cavemen combines CGI with actors to portray the characters in the story of man. Initially this seems to make it far less technically impressive than the earlier programmes--memories of Kubrick's 2001 are inevitable--but fortunately the acting is superb and the viewer soon forgets that these are people in monkey suits. The series also makes use of a special effect called "deep time-lapse", which shows in a matter of dramatic seconds the thousands of years of geological changes that sped up our ancestors' evolution. Wilson himself takes part in the action as if he is a modern-day naturalist following lions across the Serengeti rather than creatures long extinct. This approach makes for a more immediate as well as poignant interpretation of history: the result is an enlightening and moving tribute to the human journey. On the DVD: Walking with Cavemen on disc has production interviews with series producer Peter Georgi, executive producer and director Richard Dale, director of animated extras Ben Palmer and actor David Rubin. There are also location interviews, the best of which is two of the actors in full costume explaining the difficulties involved in eating lunch. There are sequences explaining the creation of the digital effects, and the original score can be accessed as an audio-only option. A fact file for each episode and a picture gallery complete the extras package. --Kristen Bowditch

• Strangers On A Train (1951) | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (133.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. It's not just a ripping-good thriller but a film student's delight and a perversely enjoyable battle of wits between tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and his mysterious, sycophantic admirer, Bruno (Robert Walker), who proposes a "criss-cross" scheme of traded murders. Bruno agrees to kill Guy's unfaithful wife, in return for which Guy will (or so it seems) kill Bruno's spiteful father. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. Strangers on a Train remains one of Hitchcock's crowning achievements and a suspenseful classic that never loses its capacity to thrill and delight. --Jeff Shannon

• Curtain Up (2017 Remaster) | DVD | (03/04/2017) from £9.76   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Curtain Up is a 1952 British film directed by Ralph Smart, written by Jack Davies and Philip King. In an English provincial town, a second-rate repertory company assemble at the theatre on Monday morning to rehearse the following week's play, a melodrama titled Tarnished Gold. Harry (Robert Morley), their irascible Director, is highly critical of the play, which has been foisted on him by the owners of the Company and is unenthusiastic about its prospects. The cast, a mixture of wanabee-film stars and has-beens, are equally unenthusiastic and little progress is made. Just as matters seemingly cannot get worse, the authoress of the play, Catherine Beckwith (Rutherford), appears and insists on 'sitting at the feet' of the Director.

• Change Of Habit | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £33.37   |  Saving you £-23.38 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Elvis in his last scripted screen role plays a hip young doctor who sets up a clinic in the inner-city slums of New York. Three nuns forsake their habits to join forces with the doctor and help him out in his clinic full of abused children and stubborn parents. One of the nurses (Mary Tyler Moore) falls in love with the guitar-playing doctor and has to decide whether to stay with him or go back to the church.

• Don't Go in the House | Blu Ray | (07/02/2022) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A legendary title from the Video Nasties era, Joseph Ellison's relentlessly bleak and disturbing Don't Go In The House has lost none of its power to shock in the decades since it was first censored by the BBFC and seized by UK authorities. Donny Kohler (The Sopranos' Dan Grimaldi in a gripping central performance), a disturbed loner unhealthily obsessed with fire, comes home from his factory job one day to find his abusive mother has died. Now all alone in the large Gothic mansion he calls home and consumed in an inferno of insanity, he is finally able to fulfil his violent revenge fantasies against her. Soon, any woman unlucky enough to enter is forced to come face to face with the worst fate imaginable in the secret steelclad chamber of death he has built in the house's depths Now fully uncut and making its UK high definition premiere in a brand new 2K restoration, the film that dares to ask What if Norman Bates had a flamethrower? is back in a definitive collectors' edition with both original and extended versions. Limited Edition Contents: Limited edition Ocard featuring newly commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy Reversible sleeve and foldout doublesided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by Lindsay Hallam and James Flower Disc One: Brand new 2K restoration from the original negative by Severin Films High Definition (1080p) Bluray™ presentation of two different versions of the film: the 83minute uncut Theatrical Version, and the 89minute Television Version with additional scenes and alternate footage Original lossless mono audio on both cuts Optional English audio description for the blind on both cuts Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both cuts Brand new commentary on the Theatrical Version by director Joseph Ellison and producer Ellen Hammill Archive commentary on the Theatrical Version by star Dan Grimaldi House Keeping, a brand new featurette by Severin Films interviewing associate producer Matthew Mallinson and cowriter/producer Joe Masefield We Went in the House, a brand new featurette by Severin Films with Michael Gingold revisiting the locations from the film, including the iconic house Playing with Fire, an archive interview with star Dan Grimaldi from 2005 Original theatrical trailers and TV spots Image gallery Disc Two: High Definition (1080p) Bluray presentation of the Extended Version (92 mins) of the film, with the additional scenes from the Television Version reinserted into the uncensored Theatrical Version Original lossless mono audio Optional English audio description for the blind Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Brand new audio commentary on the Extended Version by Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA Minds on Fire, a brand new video essay by David Flint putting the film into context Burn Baby Burn and The Burning Man, two archive interviews with director Joseph Ellison Grindhouse AllStars: Notes From the Sleaze Cinema Underground, a documentary by High Rising Productions from 2017 interviewing exploitation filmmakers Matt Cimber, Joseph Ellison, Roy Frumkes and Jeff Lieberman

• Coast | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £8.30   |  Saving you £31.69 (381.81%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Discover the curious relationship between the British and the seas in this series first shown on the BBC. The nation's love affair with the coast will be reawakened for this entertaining and ambitious exploration of the entire UK coastline. Every part of the 9 000-mile coast is covered to explore how we've shaped it - and how it shapes us. Hosted by a team of history and geography experts who investigate everything from life on a nuclear submarine to rebuilding the Titanic using co

• The Marx Brothers Collection | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £35.16   |  Saving you £-0.17 (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Contains the titles: Duck Soup: captures some of the Marx Brothers' zaniest routines and funniest quips creating a laugh-out-loud spectacle of politics gone haywire. Backed by wealthy widow Mrs. Teasdale Groucho becomes the leader of Freedonia quickly frustrating his cabinet and offending the aggressive neighboring country to the point of war. Chico and Harpo sent by the rival country spy on Groucho and try to steal his battle plans but when war does come loyalties beco

• Viva Las Vegas | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (133.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  It's pretty tough to beat Jailhouse Rock in terms of sheer entertainment, but Elvis lovers are particularly fond of this 1964 hit. The Big E plays race-car driver Lucky Jackson, who arrives in Las Vegas for an upcoming Grand Prix race. Lucky's car needs a new engine, so he gets a waiter job at a casino and starts working his crooning charms on Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). It's their on-screen chemistry that makes this flick a lot of fun; Presley never had a better co-star than Ann-Margret, and their race-car romance is quintessential 1960s fluff. Then there are the songs, of course, including the snappy title tune, a rockin' rendition of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say?" and "The Yellow Rose of Texas". Viva Las Vegas is one of the Elvis movies that stands the test of time, when the legend was still at his peak. --Jeff Shannon

• Coast 2 - Complete BBC TV Series 2 | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £5.04   |  Saving you £24.95 (495.04%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Series 2 of the acclaimed BBC factual documentary - uncovering the mysteries and secrets of the spectacular British Coastline.

• Her Favourite Husband | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Robert Beatty plays an Italian Bank clerk bullied by his wife (Jean Kent) and mother in law (Margaret Rutherford). When a gang of robbers discover that he is a perfect double for their leader they kidnap him and the two men switch places. The result is a wild confusion of mistaken identities. With original music composed by Nino Rota.

• In Cold Blood | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Richard Brooks's In Cold Blood is a faithful 1967 screen adaptation of Truman Capote's extraordinary non-fiction book about the course of two killers in this world--their lives, their senseless slaughter of an entire family, and their executions. Robert Blake and Scott Wilson are remarkable as the murderers, but what has kept this film special over the decades is Brooks's blunt, clearheaded, and non-sensational approach to the story. (The term "semi-documentary" has been applied to Brooks's style on this film, and it's an entirely fair description.) The experience of watching In Cold Blood is naturally unsettling, but the director--as with Capote--leaves final judgments about justice to the beholder. --Tom Keogh

• Change of Habit | DVD | (30/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Awakenings | DVD | (24/01/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the acclaimed book by neurologist Oliver Sacks, director Penny Marshall's hit 1990 drama Awakenings stars Robin Williams as Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Sayer is a neurologist who discovers that the drug L-Dopa can be used to "unlock" patients in a mental hospital from the mysterious sleeping sickness that has left them utterly immobilized. Leonard (Robert De Niro) is one such patient who awakens after being in a comatose state for 30 years, leaving Sayer to guide Leonard in adjusting to the world around him. Penelope Ann Miller costars as the daughter of another patient, with whom Leonard falls tenuously in love. Earning Oscar nominations for best picture, actor and screenplay, this moving fact-based drama was a hit with critics and audiences alike. --Jeff Shannon

• Dangerous Knowledge | DVD | (21/09/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  John Gregson Patrick Allen and Prunella Ransome star in N. J. Crisp''s exciting and treacherous spy thriller available to own on DVD for the very first time. Once you're in the spy game you never leave. Kirby (John Gregson) is ex-Army Intelligence. Now he's a mere insurance salesman. Or is he? Returning from a trip to France Kirby finds himself being shadowed by two agents. An innocent bystander Laura (Prunella Ransome) helps him to escape. But how innocent is Laura? After all her stepfather is a high-ranking civil servant named Roger Thane (Patrick Allen) - and it's his operatives who are following Kirby... Who can Kirby trust? Suddenly Kirby's French contact is dead the KGB and CIA are all involved and an assassin is after him. Just what does he know?

• Forever And A Day | DVD | (25/05/2015) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  1940s drama made by the collaborative efforts of seven directors and 21 writers. Gates Trimble Pomfret (Ken Smith) travels from America to England during the Blitz in order to sell his family's home in London. When he gets to the house he discovers that Leslie Trimble (Ruth Warrick) has been living there and refuses to move. As Leslie tries to persuade Gates not to sell up, she recounts the house's 140-year history hoping to appeal to his romantic side.

• Charly | DVD | (02/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Released in 1968, Charly is a period-piece from the summer of love when "natural" was nirvana, the air hummed with the mantra "Everybody's beautiful", and all ills stemmed from institutional monoliths such as Science, Government, Education, and Religion. It is adapted from Daniel Keyes' novel Flowers for Algernon and its hero, Charly (Cliff Robertson), is 30 years old and mentally handicapped. His innocent sweetness makes him superior to most able-minded folk, whether they're the bigoted dolts he sweeps floors for or the ambitious scientists who see him as the human equivalent of Algernon, a mouse they've surgically (but impermanently) smartened up. Naturally, post-op Charly, sporting a genius IQ, "sees things as they are". Trotted out as the neurosurgeons' poster boy, he stands up to the "learned" audience--shot as faceless, inhuman interrogators. He's every 60s flower child, berating his "elders" for blighting their brave new world. The one reward Charly derives from his higher IQ is sex. In a lengthy montage resembling a retro TV commercial, he and his teacher (Claire Bloom, a madonna with an eternal Mona Lisa smile) romp through Edenic gardens, their embraces hallowed by sunlight glinting through leaves, moonlight glinting on water, and sappy Ravi Shankar music (stylistic clichés also include embarrassing outbreaks of split screens and multiple small screens within the frame, notably when rebellious Charly turns biker). Robertson's performance is well-meaning but mawkishly sentimental. Still, in the penultimate moments when Charly begins to slide back into mental illness, the actor achieves a genuine tragic gravity, and he became a surprise Oscar winner for his pains. --Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com

• Coast 1 & 2 Box Set | DVD | (27/11/2006) from £6.12   |  Saving you £33.87 (553.43%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Discover the curious relationship between the British and the seas in these two series first shown on the BBC.